[Pol]

My fingers are crossed
Pol

[katey]

Back from vet.He thinks it's a build up from untreated scaly leg mite.He clipped off what he could until it started to bleed,gave her a shot of ab's and 3 doses of oral ab for me to give her here.i need to continue the salt water bathing and vaseline.

He said the other 2 hens will be infected now also, as it's very contagious.........great! 
Their last owner didn't house them together.
What a mess!I feel really down.

[PaulineM]

Hi
You are probably just feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment. 
Take it a step at a time.
Scaley leg isn't too hard to get rid of, mine had it too.
We caught our girls and gently massage vaseline all over the legs, (this smoothers the mites) for a week. Then we washed their legs with dog shampoo and gently scrubbed them. Next fill a jar with surgical spirit and dip each leg into this for 30 seconds, repeat this stage for 3 weeks. You will see a big difference even after the first week.
If your little girl is still getting bullied spray her with anti-peck spray and others won't like the taste and hopefully leave her alone. There are other ways to stop bullying but try this easy way first. 

[Frizzle1]

I guess it could have been a lot worse. I had a hen I bought from somewhere once who also had the same problem, she was walking round with it fror at least 6 months before I realised it probably longer, but the others never did catch it, your onto it now which is a good thing. I've been keeping chickens now for years but I don't want to appear ignorant can someone tell me what a pilkie is anyway. It's obviously crossed with a silkie but what else. Is it a new breed of chook?

[joyfull]

Pekin x silkie 

[katey]

Thankyou paulineM,
Is that vaseline once a day for a week then spirit once a day for 3 weeks?
She's inside now.....where she'll stay,until i get some peck spray.
You really are a fantastic bunch on here!

[Pol]

Now you know what it is, she will be better in know time keep
Pol

[PaulineM]

Hi
I massaged in the vaseline every other day for a week, not too thickly but enough to get under the scales, then I used the surgical spirit only, once a week for 3 weeks.
I'm not that experienced as I have only had my girls from August so some other more experienced keepers might be able to add to this advice as well.
I have the Hayes Chicken manual which gives all sorts of useful remedies for all sort of problems you can come across. 

[Fisherman]

Hi Katey
I have read somewhere that Frontline for cats / kittens will kill off Scaly Leg Mite. A couple of drops on the skin at the back of each chickens neck is all that's necessary. Its not licensed for treating chickens but a lot of people use it. It also sorts out other external parasites so I believe. The birds need treating 2 or 3 times a year to keep them parasite free.

Just be aware that your coop bedding may also be contaminated with lice / eggs so it would be worth having a good clean out.

If you decide to try Frontline search the site for additional information.

Good Luck

[Foghorn-Leghorn]

I second PaulineM with regards to the Haynes Manual.  It has some really good photos too which is really useful when you need to compare something you are dealing with.  It may be worth investing in a copy, as it covers just about everything a new chicken keeper needs and might like to know.

Good luck with treating your girl, I'm sure you'll have her back on her feet in no time and then you can enjoy the fun part of keeping chickens 

[katey]

Thanks Foghorn-Leghorn,I definately need to do some reading up.I'll look out for a copy.My word.....what a learning curve i'm on!!!!

[katey]

To Helenaj,
Thanks for the pm.I can't reply until i've had 10 posts apparently.Not sure what that means but anyway i've got it and thanks so much.You really set my mind at rest.Hope you read this.
Kate

[joyfull]

at the moment Katey you have made 10 posts so only 1 more then you can send pm's  .
This rule was introduced to help prevent spamers from joining and sending out spam to all of us 

[swedishchicken]

Hi
I am glad you took your chicken to the vet. At least now you know how to treat it.
I asked my vet about the frontline theory when I had a scaly leg problem and was told not to do it. She did give me drops to put on the neck (the chickens, not mine) so same theory, but not the same product


Good luck with your chicken and it seems to me that you are doing everything right. You have some very lucky chickens!

Linda

[hillfooter]

Hi Katey,
You seem to be doing great so the scaley mite problem treatment should start to work.  I'm surprised the vet didn't give you something better to treat the mite and although the vaseline will work it's a lot of work and something like Frontline (and I expect Ivermectin too) would be effective and a lot less effort as Fisherman said.  See
http://www.chicken-house.co.uk/acatalog/Harkamectin__ivermectin_Drops.html 
for ivermectin which i suspect will be much cheaper than Frontline.

A thorough clean out of your house is also advisable though scaley mite unlike red mite live on the birds not in the house.  Some people smear vaseline (buy petroleum jelly from the baby section at super drugs for a cheaper brand than vaseline) on the roosts to prevent migration from bird to bird.  Although it is likely to spread with time it is usually very slow to spread as the mites need to leave the infected bird an crawl to a new one so your other two may not be infected.  If you treated in time they may well be OK

New scales are always slow to grow back and with bad damage some scaring may remain but I'm sure you will beat this fairly quickly and it's not that common once you rid them they should be fine.

HF